"No, not really, Mother," he replied. "It would explain everything, actually."

"It does, doesn't it?" she agreed. "The Aeradalla are also magical beings, but they evolved from humans, not animals."

"But what about the Wikuni? You didn't say where they came from."

"As a matter of fact, I did. You weren't listening."

Tarrin blinked. She never mentioned the Wikuni. All she said was what happened to the Urzani after-

– -Some Urzani built ships, then sailed into the Western Sea and disappeared!

"No!" Tarrin said in disbelief. "The Wikuni are descendents of the Urzani?" he gasped.

"That's right, my kitten," the Goddess chuckled. "The gods of the Wikuni drew the then-Urzani to them, and once they arrived in their new homeland, the gods there worked their power on them to change them. They altered their appearance and scoured the memory of the Urzani language and customs out of them, literally forming an entirely new race, with its own culture. Since those Urzani had been adventurous people, and happened to be mainly the upper stock of Urzani society, they evolved into a race of intelligent merchants with an almost obsessive bent for intrigue. The Wikuni have absolutely no idea that they are direct descendents of the Urzani, and that they're related to the Selani."

Tarrin was shocked. He never dreamed that the Wikuni had such an unusual beginning! They were originally the same race as Allia, and that Sha'Kar woman!

No, not Sha'Kar. Urzani!

Now he remembered her! He'd heard of her in stories. That Urzani woman who had goaded him into claiming his full power was Spyder!

"Correct again," the Goddess smiled down on him. "She is my oldest, most loyal servant."

"She has to be at least five thousand years old!" Tarrin gasped.

"Actually, she's closer to ten thousand," the Goddess replied dryly. "Spyder was alive during the Age of Dynasty. In fact, she was once the Empress." the Goddess laughed. "She wasn't a very good Empress, however."

That revelation boggled his mind so completely that he had to simply stop thinking about it.

"Now you may understand why Keritanima and Allia can use Sorcery. The ability has been suppressed in the other two branches of the Urzani line, but in Allia and Keritanima that ability has been reborn. In the beginning, only the Humans and that nameless parent race had the spark to be Sorcerers. All of their children retain that spark. And now that you are Were, the spark of Sorcery has been introduced into the Were-cat line. All of your children have the potential to be Sorcerers, just like their father."

Tarrin had to drastically realign his concept of the world. So many races, and they were all related in some way to some other race. It made the world seem much smaller than before.

It had been an eye-opening tale. The Goddess had never shared such obscure knowledge with him before, and in a way he felt privileged to hover there in her presence and hear the story of the origins of his sisters. It was strange to know that his own kind hadn't been one of the beginning sentient races, and neither were the Vendari.

It made him wonder at it, wonder why the Goblins faded away, and why their progeny were so violent and less technologically advanced. It made him wonder if all the Dwarves really were gone; after all, what if some of them fled across the sea, like the ancestors of the Wikuni? What if there were still Dwarven clans hiding in the mountains, as they had done after the Urzani conquered the world? And what of the Sha'Kar? Were they all truly gone, or were some of them hiding in some distant land, maybe the Utter East, or one of the dark continents beyond the Known World? The Humans and the Wikuni couldn't have been the only ones to set off for unknown places, to seek out new places to live. The Dwarves and Gnomes, the Sha'Kar and maybe even some of the original Urzani, maybe they too had had ancestors set out for some distant frontier and lose contact with the rest of the world. They could still be there, living their lives, unaware of the happenings in the Known World, or perhaps not wishing to know.

Tarrin twisted the manacle on his wrist absently, wincing as a burr on the underside pulled at the shaggy fetlock. He really had to do something about that.

"I think I see someone coming," Var announced as he returned from his hunt. Tarrin stood up, towering over the Selani Scout, looking in the direction he pointed, up into the sky. The light was bright, too bright to see clearly, so he bent down and donned the sun-dimming visor he kept near to him at all times. Var had an umuni hanging from a spear that Sarraya had Conjured for him, that night's dinner, and the smell of it made Tarrin's stomach growl. Var's incredible eyesight had indeed scouted out the two flying figures, two Aeradalla, some longspans away but flying in their direction.

It was about time.

"That's them," Tarrin agreed, taking off the violet visor and setting it on the ground beside him.

"Then the camp, we break it tomorrow, yes?" Jegojah asked from where he was training Denai.

Tarrin nodded. "This is all I was waiting for. We move tomorrow, and we're not going slow."

"Then the morning, we will part then, yes," the Revenant said. "Jegojah, he has his own mission now, yes. Kravon's blood sings to Jegojah, yes, and Jegojah must go and spill it."

"May all the gods bless you in your endeavor, Jegojah," Tarrin said seriously. "Remember to stick him a few times for me."

"Jegojah, he will cut off the vile Wizard's hands, just for ye," the Revenant cackled.

It was about sunset when the two Aeradalla landed. Ariana looked much better now, in a pair of clean breeches, soft leather boots, and a haltar embroidered with a drake hanging from her shoulders. She also wore a golden circlet over her head, entwined into her blue hair. The male Aeradalla looked much as Tarrin remembered, ruggedly handsome and much healthier now that he had been freed from the Crown's hypnotic allure. His skin was healthy, his muscles again strong and defined, and the pasty gauntness had been replaced by a healthy bronzed glow common for beings who lived their lives under the sun. His white-gold hair was tied back in a tail, clean and healthy now, framing a handsome face that filled out to show a young man with promising potential. Calm green eyes stared up at Tarrin, the eyes of a man of power.

But Tarrin was not put off by such men. He stared down at the smaller Aeradalla without expression, sizing the man up. A strong man, strong-willed. Ariana was right. This was a king that could retake his power from the men who had stripped it from him while he was ill.

The two of them looked around, and both stared quite a while at Jegojah. But the Revenant said nothing, simply standing off to the side with Denai, both of their weapons drawn. But they shook that off eventually, coming up to Tarrin.

"Tarrin," Ariana smiled, "may I present Andos, King of the Aeradalla. Your Majesty, this is Tarrin, the man who saved your life."

"He's alot taller than you said, Ari," Andos said, craning his neck to look up into Tarrin's eyes.

"I told you he was tall, Andy," Ariana laughed. "You just didn't want to believe me."

"Andy?" Tarrin asked curiously.

"Ari and I grew up together," Andos said with a grin. "I've never been able to get her to stop calling me that."

Tarrin looked at Ariana, and the woman blushed slightly.

So that was what this was about.

"What did you need to talk to us about?" Ariana asked quickly.

"I want to borrow about fifty of you for a while," Tarrin said bluntly. "An army is threatening the city of Suld, and a group of Aeradalla scouts would help keep the city out of their hands."

"That's what this is about?" Andos asked. "We don't get involved in the affairs of the humans, Were-cat. I appreciate you healing me, but I have to think about my people."